|
Five Essential Rules for Designing Distance Degree
Marketing Materials for Adult Learners:
Adult distance learners remain the new kids on the academic block.
The nature of adult learners and what they need or want from college at mid-life is much
debated. What unique services should colleges provide for adult distance learners? Since
distance learners won't be coming to campus, the outreach materials used to recruit,
advise, and retain them should be carefully developed with their needs in mind. In an
attempt to better design outreach materials for adult learners, the academic counseling
division of the Electronic University Network, a private online educational service,
collected and reviewed the outreach materials used by eighty-four undergraduate degree
granting colleges. We then queried fifty adult learners enrolled in the Electronic
University's distance learner's academic counseling service for their opinions on these
outreach materials. These adults were all seeking distance degree programs in fields
ranging from architecture to telecommunications. Their average age was thirty-six.
Our informal study led us to develop the following five essential
rules for use in developing future outreach materials.
Ù
Top
Five Essential Rules of Outreach
Rule #1: Adopt an Attitude
Most adults have been away from "the books" for two
decades. Adult learners are out-of-step developmentally. Adults returning to college do so
with doubts. "No one but me is this far behind in life! I'm too old to take
tests!" Distance learning materials must affirm that learning is not age bound in a
culture that coveys the contrary. They need to adopt an encouraging you-can-do-this
attitude. The display of real life role models may be crucial for adult distance learners
who are attempting higher education anachronistically, in isolation from immediate peer
and faculty support.
The overwhelming favorite among adult learners we queried for having
"an attitude" was Pennsylvania State University. Outreach materials developed by
Pennsylvania State University included snapshots of students, including a determined
grandmother in tennis shoes, an enrollee in their special "Go 60" degree
program. Also included were snapshots from faculty with quotes that promised easy access
along with practical approaches to course topics.
Ù
Top
Rule #2: Assume that Money Matters
The major complaint adults expressed about outreach materials was
that the price of college was often dismissed. Interestingly, seven of the eighty-four
colleges we surveyed made no mention of the tuition rates or fees for their programs in
their outreach materials. Less than a third of the colleges provided direct information on
the availability of financial aid. The attitude that money does not matter was evident in
the outreach materials and in direct contradiction to the attitude held by the majority of
adult learners.
Adult learners are practiced consumers. Many face educating
themselves and their children simultaneously. Distance learning programs inherently
recognize that adults have limited time and access opportunities, yet most fail to
acknowledge that adults also have limited income. To help adult learners, outreach
materials should include a statement on financial aid and whom to contact to discuss aid,
since this is often handled by a different department. Financial aid officers trained to
deal with the budgetary concerns of adult learners can help adults understand what to
expect from a government financial aid program that was originally designed for dependent,
non-working students.
Southwestern Assemblies of God College, of Waxahachie, Texas, was
one of the few programs that included a financial brochure, "Making Your Southwestern
Education Affordable," in their outreach materials. The tone of the brochure,
"We Are Here to Help," was clear, concise, and encouraging. The brochure
stressed that college aid was available for the middle class and was written to demystify
the financial aid maze for working adults.
Ù
Top
Rule #3: Recognize Education As a Career Quest
Adults want more information on how academic majors and degrees
translate into specific career goals. "Will this accounting degree qualify me to be a
CPA? Can I be a licensed school teacher if I complete this math degree? Will this degree
qualify me to take the Engineering exam?" Half of all programs that provided degree
majors tied to post-baccalaureate licensing or certification, such as engineering or
accounting, failed to mention whether these degrees would qualify learners for
post-graduation needs or if their approvals were state specific.
Adults who return to college are adults in transition. Many seek to
change their long-term career situation through educational achievement. Given the
correlation between higher education and efforts by adults to change their career
situations, we were surprised to learn that only two degree-granting colleges offered a
career course in their curriculum. So were our adult learners.
Ù
Top
Rule #4: Provide Easy and Responsive Access
After we reviewed the outreach materials of all colleges, we sent
letters to sixteen colleges, asking for additional information on items not made clear in
their initial materials. Questions posed ranged from the availability of academic majors
to the availability of credit for work experience. We identified ourselves as prospective
students in these queries to see what kind of responses an adult learner might expect.
Of the sixteen letters sent asking for specific additional
information, only four were answered. Four programs never replied and the other eight
re-sent identical outreach materials and form letters. This raises the alarming question:
who, if anyone, is minding the distance learning mailroom?
When adult learners were asked how satisfied they were with the
responsiveness of distance learning programs to their questions, a shout of dismay came
back. Wrote one business woman, "If I ran my company like this college I'd have been
bankrupt years ago."
Ù
Top
Rule #5: Provide a Preparatory Academy
Over half the adult learners queried expressed fear about taking a
course in higher college math. These learners wanted a course in pre-college math to build
their skills and confidence before taking college algebra, which is often required.
Finding a distance degree program that offered college preparatory
work in math, English, and study skills was a problem for those who wanted this option.
Less than a quarter of the programs we reviewed offered college preparatory courses in any
of these areas. Yet the majority of the baccalaureate degree programs required six credits
or more of composition, and math at College Algebra level or above with the accompanying
sciences.
Ù
Top
Practical Implications for Distance Education Outreach
Assessing Current Materials
While colleges debate whether or not they should be assessed from a
consumer perspective, a clear indication from this study is that adults do look at
education from a consumer and customer service perspective. They care about price and they
care about the responsiveness of colleges to their unique needs and questions.
Many adults will graduate from a distance program either without
setting foot on the campus -- and therefore in the financial aid office or the counseling
office -- or after having spent only a week or two on campus. Adult distance learners must
rely heavily on the written materials they receive to assess a prospective college; after
that they must rely on the responsiveness of the college to their unique and complex
needs. Inadequate written materials or a lack of interpretative access clearly
discourages, rather than invites, adults back into the learning process at mid-life.
Adult learners may shop around among the over one hundred
undergraduate level distance degree colleges open to them. If adults do this, wouldn't it
benefit college personnel to do the same? Periodically reviewing the outreach materials of
other colleges may help programs remain responsive. How do other colleges welcome adult
learners? Could borrowing their ideas and techniques make your program more responsive to
the needs of adult learners? Assessing materials on the five rules above should benefit
any distance degree college.
Ù
Top
Involving Front Line Advisors
Why are adult distance education degree materials seen by adult
learners as lacking in so many key areas? Our study was undertaken by a front line
academic counselor who continually responds to the gripes and suggestions of potential
adult students.
Materials developed by administrative or marketing staff may not
reflect the true-life concerns that advisors address each day with prospective adult
students. Administrative staff who have worked with campus-only programs may inadvertently
carry over ideas and attitudes that work well for traditional campus recruitment but do
not respond to the unique needs of adult learners. The concept of a college preparatory
academy, for instance, is still a new one for most four-year campus-based colleges, though
less so for community colleges.
Colleges have traditionally separated admissions from financial aid.
This separation seems particularly unsuited to adult learners whose financial concerns are
at a different level than the traditional 18-year-old student. Cross-training academic
advisors in academic, career, and financial aid policies may help ease adults back into
higher education.
Finally, listening to front line advisors and to what prospective
students say by phone and in letters may be the best and most cost-effective method of
making an annual review in an effort to design outreach materials and services that speak
-- not mumble! -- to the adult learners who use them.
Ù
Top
|
